San Francisco Mayor Bans Bottled Water for City Employees

Following up on Jyle’s great post on the bottled water debate, it was announced that San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order that bans city government from buying bottled water. Newsom estimates that this will save the city up to half-a-million dollars every year. It also reduces the pollution and waste from the bottling and transport of water.

The fact is that the City, which gets its water from the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, has some of the cleanest and best tasting water in the United States. I live in San Francisco, so allow me to attest to that personally. It is entirely likely that the bottled water available down the street is not as clean as the water out of the tap that I’m going to enjoy when I’m through writing this post.

Water use is a very thorny issue here in California, one that will only get more so as drought and climate change tightens its grip on the west. Nonetheless, San Francisco enjoys very good tap water from the relatively near mountains to the east.

Given the environmental problems with bottled water that Jyle outlined in his post, there is really no reason the mayor of a city that, depending on your outlook is considered either “environmentally conscience” or “radically liberal”, shouldn’t encourage the use of the nearly pristine local water supply.

We are a city that can live up to its reputation.

Critics on both sides have apparently weighed in on the matter. From a comment about our lack of regard for our particular proximity to the San Andreas fault and the potential disruption to our water supply (Gavin didn’t ban bottled water entirely from San Francisco, and it is silly to suggest it); to Greenpeace complaining that it doesn’t go far enough (it goes as far as what it is; even if well-intended, I'm not sure it is best to assign a political agenda beyond what is intended.)

It’s just about the water, and when there are opportunities to take the most environmentally sensitive one, well, why not?

It doesn’t have to be in a bottle to be good.

Sources and Further Reading
Planet Ark
San Francisco Chronicle here and here
Sierra Club
TreeHugger.com

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· Planet 100: Oil Minefield in the Gulf of Mexico
· Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics
· Fake plastic cups make a great conversation starter

[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

Jeanne said:

That's incredible! I have to admit that I had not even thought of that as a means of being more efficient. Thanks for the info!

Posted at 12:25 AM, on July 4 2007

San Francisco Mayor Bans Bottled Water for City Employees

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.